Day After Thanksgiving Sale – Can It Live Up to the Hype?

Most consumers don’t worry much about buying Christmas presents until around October. Once November hits, the panic sets in of whether they’re going to have enough time. But then why bother worrying? All you have to do is wait until the day after Thanksgiving, and everything will be on sale so cheap that you can do all your shopping at once, right? Not necessarily.

Let’s pick an item at random. Say you’re looking to buy a Nintendo Wii. You’re waiting until the day after Thanksgiving so you can buy one at a fantastic price. Of course, the ads come out and you find one. Great. So on Black Friday, you wake up at 4:00 a.m. and make your way out in the freezing cold to your store of choice. You stand in line for about an hour until the doors open. You risk nearly getting trampled and you get inside only to find that they’re sold out.

Now what do you do? You hurriedly get back in your car and drive to the nearest store that you know of who also listed the Wii for a similarly great price. By the time you get there and fight your way through the crowds, as the doors had been open for about a half our by this point, and they’re sold out also.

Let’s sum up. You woke up super early, stood out in the cold for a long time and drove around like a crazy person, only to come home empty handed. Yes, you can get a great deal, but you have to go to great lengths to get the coveted price. Next year, why not pay the extra $20 and sleep off your turkey coma until 9:00 a.m. and wake refreshed and sit around the house in your underpants watching football.